All Or Nothing
by sleep is good-books are better
Summary: Post Season 3 Finale. Robin/Regina. One Shot.


Robin. His face buried in Marion's hair, one hand roped around her back, and another around the son they shared together. Regina couldn't push the image from her mind. She stood in her kitchen, alone, rolling out pastry. Baskets of red apples sat on the kitchen tiles. She had picked them this morning, deciding that she would bake until she felt better.

Henry had called by that morning with Emma, both of them worried about her. Regina had apologised to Swan for her harsh words the night before, and sent them both home with an apple pie for the Charming's.

.

He came to her door around midday, looking apologetic, his hands buried in his pockets. A frost had settled over Storybrooke during the night, the air was chill. Regina wiped her flour-dusted hands on her apron, inviting Robin inside. She led him into the room, making sure the kitchen counter was between them. She continued rolling pastry.

"I…" Robin began.

Regina looked up, feeling her eyes pinch.

"It's okay," she said. "I know you're here to say goodbye."

"Marion's my wife."

"I know. You love her."

"I do," he said, his voice breaking. Robin cleared his throat. "We have a son together."

"Yes."

"But Regina…what I feel for you-"

"Don't say it," she begged, laying down the rolling pin and placing her palms flat on the counter. She concentrated on the grains of flour caught between her skin and the wood. "We were together for a while…and it was good. But now it's over. Things end, they end all the time. Especially for me."

He hesitated, and said, "You're not alone."

She laughed, and looked up at him. Regina shook her head. "No, I think the green fairy has sealed my fate. I deserve loneliness, worse than loneliness, actually."

"Because of what she said about us?"

Regina nodded.

"Maybe the tattoo you saw wasn't mine."

"Maybe" said Regina, generously. She knew that wasn't true.

Robin lifted a hand to the kitchen table, using his index finger to draw a pattern in the flour. The silence lasted a few minutes. They were comfortable minutes.

An alarm went off, and Regina whirled around, removing the fresh pie from her oven. "Here" she said, laying it on the counter. "Take this for your family."

Robin nodded. Regina picked up an apple basket from the floor, tipping a few spare apples into another hamper. She placed the hot pie on a cloth and wrapped it, placing it into the basket. She handed it to Robin over the counter.

"Thank you" he said. "Truly."

"Goodbye" said Regina.

* * *

Regina curled her hair. Something she had never done in this world. She applied her lipstick (red) and smiled when she heard knocking on the door. Henry had come to walk her to Granny's.

They walked slowly down the street, Regina's hand resting on Henry's shoulder. Her dress was blue, Henry remarked.

"It's a nice colour on you" he said. "You should wear lighter colours more often."

After Robin had reunited with Marion, Henry was worried that Regina would go all Evil Queen on the town, so she was trying hard to avoid that. She turned Robin away from her mind, abstained from magic, filled the void with nighttime whiskeys and Snow took her shopping. The blue dress was her stepdaughter's idea.

They walked into Granny's together, and a glass of red wine was thrust into Regina's hand.

"Sit with me" said Snow, taking Regina by the arm and leading her to a booth. She wasn't quick enough to keep Regina from seeing Robin and his family, but Regina welcomed the distraction.

Snow chattered and nursed her baby. Regina sat with her back to Robin and drank wine to distract her. It didn't stop the sound of their voices, Marion's soft, kind words and Roland's laughter. As if reading her mind, Hook sat beside Regina, and offered his flask. Rum was better than wine.

"Attention" called Emma. "Hey, shut up! As we all know, it's a special someone's birthday."

Emma proceeded with the toast, and Henry blew out his candles. He cut the three-tiered birthday cake, hitting the plate, and kissed Regina on the cheek. She smiled, warmly. Regina's legs were turned out of the booth, her hands folded in her lap. Henry turned away, and a little hand grasped hers. Roland pointed with his other hand at the cake, looking up at her expectantly. Regina smiled, leading him over and taking one of the pieces that Emma had cut.

"Would you like to share?" asked Regina. Roland nodded. She sat back at her booth with Snow, lifting Roland onto her lap, not looking for approval from his mother and father. She didn't want to look at them, and have Roland dragged away. She missed the little boy's company, almost as much as she missed Robin. He reminded her of Henry at the same age, still willing to share her food and hold her hand.

They ate the birthday cake, and when it was done, Marion came over to them. "Thank you Regina" she said graciously, taking Roland's hand and leading him out of the booth. Regina knew that Marion was still coming to grips with her not being an Evil Queen anymore. Regina was still struggling with that too, and she smiled at Marion, who took Roland away.

.

"Where's he going?" asked Marion, as Roland tottered towards the birthday cake.

"Where do you think?" Robin laughed softly. "The lad has a sweet tooth, just like his mother."

Marion turned back towards the table, unsmiling. Adjusting to life in Storybrooke had not been easy for her. Nor was the news that her husband had spent their time apart with Regina, still the Evil Queen in Marion's eyes. Although Marion had only been apart from Robin for a few days at the most, he had not seen his wife in almost two years. She mourned the loss of seeing that her son had grown so much without her, at no fault of her own. It was no one's fault, although Marion would blame Regina. The reality was hard to grasp, and that was before introducing her to the internet.

She wasn't watching as Roland went up to Regina, seeking permission for a slice of cake. Robin said nothing to Marion. He enjoyed watching the bond between his son and old lover. Moments passed, as Marion fiddled with Robin's iPhone, and finally she looked around for her son. She blanched, standing slowly and walking over to retrieve Roland. Marion had lost none of her graciousness, taking Roland back without a fuss, but Robin could feel the fury simmering in his wife's hands.

"Can you believe that?" said Marion, walking briskly down the wet road afterwards, arms crossed defensively across her chest. She walked ahead of them, Robin struggling to match both her stride and their dawdling son's.

"Taking my son and feeding him cake, not even asking our permission first" she hissed, her eyes flitting to Roland, making sure he could not hear her. But he was metres behind them, playing on the phone.

"She was only being kind," said Robin.

"She is not kind."

"She's changed."

"So you have said."

They continued bickering, making it to their door before realising that Roland was no longer behind them. Marion gasped. Robin ran back down the road, around the corner. No sign of Roland. He could see Granny's down the end of the street, not many places for a child to get lost, unless he wandered off somewhere else.

Robin heard her soft voice growing louder, and then he saw her turning into the main road, holding his son's hand.

"There he is" said Regina, pointing with the hand that wasn't holding Roland's. "Nothing to worry about."

"Oh, thank goodness," sighed Robin, lifting his son into his arms. Marion came around in front of him, holding both of them to her as best she could.

Regina smiled, nodded and turned around, to where Henry waited for her. Robin meant to say thank you, but the words caught.

* * *

He knocked on her back door, thinking Regina would be in the kitchen. He was right. She answered the door covered in flour. Yet, when he saw her, he remembered that this woman did not belong to him and forgot precisely why he had come. So he blurted something that had nothing to do with anything. "Could you show me how to make a cake?"

"I'm sorry?" said Regina. Her hair was curled, as it had been at Granny's the night before, and she wore a yellow dress under a white apron. She had become softer in the past few weeks.

"Well, Roland's rather fond of it" he said. "Neither Marion nor I know how to bake. Actually that's why I came, I wanted to thank you…for bringing Roland home."

"So you didn't come to ask about cake?" she asked.

"No I did," he stammered. "That is, I came to do both. To thank you…and to bake a cake. I suppose I could just buy one though –"

"No, I can show you" she said, smiling uncertainly. "Come inside."

Regina measured flour and cocoa and sugar. Robin cracked the eggs and stirred the batter. The cake came out slightly overcooked, but nothing that couldn't be fixed by icing, Regina assured him.

He took another sip of tea, wishing it were whiskey.

"This is nice" he said.

"Yeah. Almost like we're friends."

"Can we be friends?"

"I don't think so," she answered, without looking at him. "I think this is one of those all or nothing type of things."

"With the occasional cake baking thrown in" said Robin lightly.

"Yeah" said Regina, pouring the icing onto their cake.

"At least we're not enemies."

She said nothing.

"I'm not your enemy, am I?" Robin broke the unspoken rule, and came around the countertop. No more barrier between them. Softly, he repeated, "Am I?"

She didn't answer. Regina turned slightly, setting down the icing bowl and looking at him. She concentrated on the feel of the table's edge pressing into the small of her back.

He kissed her.

Regina's lips parted. He smelled of forest. He tasted like the batter he'd licked off his fingers moments ago. Her heartbeat skidded, and it was she who leaned greedily into the kiss, she who slid one knee between his legs. Then his breath went ragged and the kiss grew deep. He lifted her up onto the table so that his face was level with hers, and as they kissed it seemed that words were hiding in the air around them. Unspoken words, like _want_ and _true_ and _love_.

It was on the tip of Robin's tongue. But he couldn't say that. How could he ever say that, after everything between them.

Regina pulled away.

"We shouldn't," she said.

"I'm sorry," he answered. "For everything. I don't think I said that before. The first time. I meant to."

"Please, don't apologise" she said, slipping off the counter and stepping back. "It's just an awful situation. No one's fault."

Robin nodded. He nearly left without his cake, but Regina stopped him in time. She walked him to the front gate and said farewell, as if they were old friends. But she barely knew him at all.


End file.
